


The Case of the Three Mistakes

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Primeval
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 10:47:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5582776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan ends up on the wrong side of an anomaly and makes an unexpected ally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Case of the Three Mistakes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fredbassett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fredbassett/gifts).



> Written as a Christmas present for the lovely fredbassett who gave the prompt “Ryan and Rocket have to work together to get out of a tight spot”. 
> 
> All you need to know about Primeval is that it involves rips in space allowing for time travel and Ryan is a soldier. If you're not familiar with Guardians of the Galaxy this fic won't help, but it shouldn't confuse you.

“Avalanche!”

For a last word, it could have been worse. At least it was succinct.

Ryan also thought it was a bloody stupid thing to be worrying about as he ran for his life, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

He was aware that the rest of his team were scrambling away, soldiers corralling civilians to safety, or as safe as you could be on the wrong side of an anomaly at the bottom of a mountain that had picked that exact moment to become a hill. He was also aware that the only safe place for him to reach was the cave to his left, and he if he headed there he would be completely cut off from his team.

Running at full pelt, trying to ignore as best he could the rumbling of the ground beneath his feet, he dived into the cave as snow and rock flowed past, closing his eyes as he went.

That was his first mistake.

* * * * *

Years of training, both before and after the ARC, meant that Ryan was better able to cope than most with surprises. So he barely flinched when he realised that his race from the avalanche had sent him straight through another anomaly. He could drop and roll though, making himself as small of a target as he could.

What was surprising was that as soon as he rolled to a stop, he realised that the sounds of the avalanche had been replaced by the sounds of someone laughing.

Or rather, something.

Surely he had hit his head on landing. Or perhaps the avalanche had managed what a future predator could not. Because clearly there was no rational explanation as to why he was now lying on the floor looking up at the barrel of a gun. A gun held by a raccoon that was now looking at him with apparent disdain, even as he laughed again.

“Terrans,” the raccoon said. “Terrans and their entrances. Can't just walk through a wormhole like anybody else. Oh, no, got to be _special_ , don't yeh?”

Ryan was sure he could feel his brain dribbling out of his ears.

“Wh...”

“Yeah, yeah, we need to get moving.” The raccoon raised his gun out of Ryan's face and turned around to look at their surroundings. “I'd leave you here, but I'd never hear the end of it.”

Ryan blinked, very slowly. Then he pinched his arm. Then he turned to pinch the raccoon, but got a kick in the face for his troubles.

“Hey! What're you trying to pull?”

“Sorry,” Ryan said, because apparently apologising to talking raccoons was a thing he did now. “I was just checking you're real.”

“Real? I'll give you real, bozo.”

And then, with the kind of strength Ryan didn't normally associate with raccoons, he was being hefted to his feet and pushed towards the entrance of the cave.

“Guess I'm not in Kansas any more,” Ryan muttered.

He'd seen a lot of amazing things in his time with the anomaly project, but this was something else entirely. A red planet with four moons clearly visible despite the apparent daylight. Ships in the sky. A city made of glass spread about below them. And a troop of armed soldiers marching in a strangely familiar way, heading towards their location.

“Rocket,” the raccoon said.

“No, I only have a gun,” Ryan said absently.

“Rocket's my name, genius. And they're coming for us. Move!”

“Right,” Ryan agreed. “My name’s Ryan,” he added.

“Yeah, I don't care,” Rocket replied. “This way.”

Ryan took a moment to consider his options, but he reckoned talking raccoon trumped armed soldiers in this particular instance, so he hurried after Rocket. The same Rocket who was trying to climb up the wall of the cave to the hole near the roof. Ryan could have reached it with ease but he wasn’t quite sure how such an offer would be received.

Rocket jumped up one last time and then as he landed his shoulders slumped.

“Just do it,” Rocket said.

Ryan didn't need telling twice, giving Rocket a boost up that had him scrambling through the hole, Ryan puling himself through soon after.

Ryan had expected to find himself on the surface of the planet, but instead they exited into some steel tubing that gave Ryan just enough room to manoeuvre, and Rocket a great deal.

“Where are we going?” Ryan asked.

“Control Room,” Rocket replied, moving quicker than Ryan could.

“Right. Why?”

“Got to shut down the power so our ship can leave.”

Ryan nodded to himself. Some of that made sense. It wasn't terribly helpful for him though.

“And how do I get home?”

“The wormholes power the city,” Rocket explained. “Shut down the Control Room, the shields collapse, we leave, and all the wormholes come back.”

“All of them.”

“Look,” Rocket said, pausing at a junction, “do you need everything explaining to you?”

“Yes,” Ryan replied.

Rocket gave him a long, searching look. Ryan put on his blandest expression, which he usually only had to put on when dealing with the Prime Minister.

It must have worked because Rocket seemed to give in, muttering what Ryan presumed was an alien curse word under his breath.

“The planet's powered by 2,700 wormholes, but only one at a time. Any more than that, the power overloads and BOOM!” Here he clapped his hands – paws – together. “So they rotate the opening of the wormholes, with each one only open for a short time before they close it and open the next. Pretty clever system really, for people whose mother's lived in trees.”

Ryan wasn't sure whether that remark was supposed to be taken literally or not, so he wisely remained silent.

“Quiet,” Rocket suddenly said, raising a...hand. Ryan stopped even breathing.

After a few seconds of adjusting his senses he could hear the voices right below where they were crawling. Rocket stood up, though even he had to bend his back, and pointed to the floor. Ryan hoped he was making an intergalactically recognisable face for “what the hell are you talking about?” but it didn't matter, because seconds later Rocket was releasing his weapon (in a confined space!) and suddenly the pipe gave way and Ryan was falling.

Clearly following Rocket without getting an idea of his plan first, was his second mistake.

* * * * *

Part of Ryan was hoping that another blow to the head would return him to a reality that would make sense. But upon regaining consciousness the first thing he saw was Rocket the Raccoon knocking a guard in the head with the butt of his gun, which proved that he had well and truly gone through the looking glass.

He pulled himself up and saw that they were indeed somewhere that looked like a control room. He wondered how Rocket was going to shut it down when the raccoon shouted at him and threw Ryan his gun.

Ryan caught it with practised ease. It was a hefty thing, but it looked enough like an Earth weapon that he could quickly see how it would work.

“Don't just stand there, shoot!” Rocket shouted.

“At what?” Ryan asked.

“That!” Rocket pointed to the cylindrical object in the middle of the room that was moving up and down with a hissing sound. It looked disturbingly like something out of one of Connor's sci-fi programmes.

Ryan checked to make sure there was no one living in the way and then fired. And he kept on firing, steadying himself against the recoil, as the machine began to shatter and finally to explode with a not very satisfying whimper.

“Performance issues?” Rocket asked, taking the gun back.

Ryan couldn’t think of a response, so settled for glaring, which had no effect whatsoever.

“Go on then,” Rocket said, pointing to a door on the right.

“Go on...”

“Follow the corridor to the end, you’ll find a wormhole soon enough.”

“How will I know it's the right one?”

“Not my problem,” Rocket replied. He started running off in the opposite direction, then skidded to a quick halt. “Oh, yeah, _you're welcome._ ”

He ran off before Ryan could point out that he was also due a thank you, but by that point the ceiling was starting to collapse and for the second time that day Ryan found himself running for his life.

* * * * *

It took 15 anomalies and 3 days before Ryan found the right anomaly to bring him home. He was greeted warmly by his team, all of whom were in one piece, and then he told them about everything that had happened to him while he was gone.

That was, he mused as he sat outside the office of his newly appointed psychiatrist, definitely his third mistake.  



End file.
